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Robo-Buster
In Robo-Buster, Janine falls head-over-heels for a wealthy industrialist who uses her friendship to gain access to the Ghostbusters' files, from which he creates the Robo-Buster X-1! Now, the manufacturer claims that Robo-Buster doesn't merely contain spirits... it actually destroys them!Eatock, James & Mangels, Andy (2008). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection booklet, p. 30. CPT Holdings, Inc. Cast Peter Venkman Slimer Egon Spengler Ray Stantz Winston Zeddemore Pig Snouted Demon Paul Smart Janine Melnitz Robo-Buster Pyro-Hippo ghost Robo-Buster's Commercial Victims Spectral Mass Flying Green ghost Equipment Ecto-1 Proton Pack Particle Thrower P.K.E. Meter Winston's Hacker Trap Locations Firehouse Grossjuck Plaza Central ParkMoss, Francis (2009). The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection Volume Four Disc Five, The Real Ghostbusters- "Robo-Buster" (1988) Episode Script p. 33. CPT Holdings, Inc. 42nd Street Terminal Plot The Ghostbusters and Slimer pursued a ghost in a building. Egon led the guys to an elevator saturated in slime. Winston affixed a device to the button console and operated the elevator. The ghost jumped down from the elevator and at the Ghostbusters. They opened fire and trapped it. Slimer posted a No-Ghost logo to the elevator, signaling the end of the bust. At the Firehouse, the Ghostbusters met Janine's rich new boyfriend, Paul Smart. Janine introduced him and revealed he was the President of Grossjuck Industries. Ray recalled the company just opened a new high rise off 40th. Egon, however, was noticeably annoyed by the situation. The phone in Ecto-1 rang and Winston answered. The guys went off on another case. Peter left the full Ghost Trap with Janine to dispose of before the Ghostbusters headed out again. Janine and Paul walked into the Firehouse. Paul coughed repeatedly and asked for some water. While Janine got some, Paul stole the Ghost Trap and took photographs of other technology. As Janine returned, Paul lied about getting an important call about a meeting that was moved up and left. Three weeks later, Ecto-1 pulled into the Firehouse and Janine was sullen. Paul never called since the last date. Suddenly the phone rang and it was Paul. He invited the Ghostbusters to a press conference at Grossjuck Plaza, introducing the newest technology in ghostbusting. Paul introduced a ghost-catching robot, Robo-Buster X-1. The guys start to get annoyed but are shocked when Paul revealed a Ghost Trap and released the same ghost they caught weeks ago. To make matters worse, Robo-Buster disintegrated the ghost. Egon charged onto the stage and stated what just happened was impossible - incorporeal entities couldn't be destroyed. Peter was about to punch out Paul but was held back. Janine, instead, dumped a pitcher of water on Paul. The Ghostbusters battled a pyrokinetic entity in the 42nd Street subway station. After they narrowly dodged an attack, they realized their Particle Throwers were melted. Robo-Buster appeared and destroyed the ghost. It turned to the crowd and threw 8x10 photographs to them, leaving the guys dumbfounded. Back at the Firehouse, a Robo-Buster commercial came on the television which mocked the Ghostbusters at the end. Janine had enough and stormed off with Slimer. Janine and Slimer walked into Paul's office and threatened to expose him. Slimer blew a razzberry at Paul and covered him in slime. Paul, naturally, got annoyed and summoned Robo-Buster. Right before her eyes, Janine watched in horror as Slimer was destroyed. She relayed the news to the guys. Egon was skeptical and believed Slimer's essence was still present in the space-time continuum in a different form. However, to put him back together, they needed a look at Robo-Buster's specifications. While on the way to Grossjuck Plaza, Egon picked up unusually high readings due east. Ecto-1 detoured into a park and encountered a Spectral Mass made up of all the ghosts Robo-Buster destroyed! The etheric continuum was close to reaching critical mass. Robo-Buster arrived and blasted the mass. It vanished and dropped Ecto-1 on its roof, effectively crippling it in the process. The Ghostbusters marched to Paul's office and demanded Robo-Buster's specifications. When he refused, they pointed him to the Spectral Mass outside the building. Robo-Buster attempted to destroy it outside and was given aid by the Ghostbusters. However, the mass enveloped Robo-Buster and it was under its control. Robo-Buster flew up to the office and attacked. Paul ran for it and left the Ghostbusters to deal with his creation. Egon shut it down and a ghost flew out and rejoined the mass outside. Egon scrambled and connected everyone's packs to Robo-Buster. He wanted to convert its blasters into negative ionizing ones like the Ghostbusters' equipment. They all opened fire on the mass and trapped ghosts that emerged from it. Robo-Buster disconnected from its lower half and shot Proton Streams in a concentric pattern. After it punched Robo-Buster, everyone heard Slimer. Peter lowered the setting on his thrower and fired on the mass. Slimer rode the stream out to safety. The Ghostbusters kept trapping and finally captured all of the mass, while separating all the ghosts in the process. Slimer kissed everyone as Robo-Buster shut down for good. Downstairs, Paul slowly fled the scene in his car, but it was severely compromised by debris. The Ghostbusters strode past Paul, mocked him, and happily walked back home. Quotes Trivia *The episode was recorded on July 11, 1988.Marsha Goodman (1988). Episode Call Sheet and SAG Report - "Standing Room Only" (1988). *Snow is falling on New York at the start of the episode and takes place in 3 weeks time. *Grossjuck Industries' name is an homage to executive producers Michael Gross and Joe Medjuck. *At the press conference, Egon states a basic law of ectoplasmic physics. It is based on the Law of Conservation of Mass: mass cannot be destroyed, only changed.Egon Spengler (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "Robo-Buster" (1988) (DVD ts. 08:31-08:37). Time Life Entertainment. Egon says: "Your machine violates a basic principle of ectoplasmic physics: Non-corporeal entities cannot be destroyed." *In the subway station, there is a poster with the phrase "No Contra Aid." At the time of this episode's production, the Iran-Contra Affair of 1986–1987 took place. *In the Robo-Buster commercial, several entities are based on previous ones the Ghostbusters encountered such as Braided with Hair bows Ghost, and the female transmogrified Class 2 from "Look Homeward, Ray," and the Boogieman (whose alternate is colored in red instead of the usual bluish white). *This episode features the Ghostbuster uniform that Janine would wear several times throughout the rest of the TV series: it's pink with light blue trim. *Ecto-1 is completely trashed in this episode. *This episode and the Ghost Smashers story arc "Who Ya Gonna Call?" from the IDW ongoing series share several similarities: **Paul Smart and Ron Alexander both steal schematics of the Ghostbusters' equipment to compete against them. **Both use the fact that the ghosts are "destroyed" rather than contained as their selling point. **In both cases the "destroyed" ghosts combine into a single entity (Spectral Mass and Megaspook) and the Ghostbusters are forced to team up with their competitors to stop it. **Finally, at the end of the arc, the competitors are out of business. *On page 7 of 35th Anniversary: The Real Ghostbusters, the montage is similar to "Ghosts R Us" and "Robo-Buster" when a similar rival company starts busting ghosts taking all of the Ghostbusters' gigs away. *On page 15 of Ghostbusters 35th Anniversary: The Real Ghostbusters, the Ghostbusters' technology was also copied in "Robo-Buster" but in this case, the difference is the designs were stolen from future rather than the present. *On page 16 of Ghostbusters 35th Anniversary: The Real Ghostbusters, the busted ghosts, including Slimer, combine into a giant mega ghost much like in "Robo-Buster". References Gallery Episode Screen Caps RoboBusterEpisode01.jpg RoboBusterEpisode25.jpg RoboBusterEpisode02.jpg RoboBusterEpisode03.jpg RoboBusterEpisode04.jpg RoboBusterEpisode26.jpg RoboBusterEpisode05.jpg RoboBusterEpisode06.jpg RoboBusterEpisode07.jpg RoboBusterEpisode08.jpg RoboBusterEpisode09.jpg RoboBusterEpisode10.jpg RoboBusterEpisode11.jpg RoboBusterEpisode12.jpg RoboBusterEpisode13.jpg RoboBusterEpisode14.jpg RoboBusterEpisode15.jpg RoboBusterEpisode27.jpg RoboBusterEpisode16.jpg RoboBusterEpisode17.jpg RoboBusterEpisode28.jpg RoboBusterEpisode18.jpg RoboBusterEpisode29.jpg RoboBusterEpisode19.jpg RoboBusterEpisode20.jpg RoboBusterEpisode30.jpg RoboBusterEpisode21.jpg RoboBusterEpisode22.jpg RoboBusterEpisode31.jpg RoboBusterEpisode32.jpg RoboBusterEpisode23.jpg RoboBusterEpisode24.jpg Collages and Edits BuildingatstartofRoboBusterepisodeCollage.png|The Building at beginning of episode "Robo-Buster". (For full size Click here) FirehouseandneighborhoodinRoboBusterepisodeCollage.png|The Firehouse neighborhood. (For full size Click here) TheGhostbustersinRoboBusterepisodeCollage.png|The Ghostbusters being introduced to Paul Smart. (For full size Click here) GhostbustersandSpectralMassinRoboBusterepisodeCollage.png|''(For full size Click here)'' GhostbustersandSpectralMassinRoboBusterepisodeCollage02.png|''(For full size Click here)'' GrossjuckPlazainRoboBusterepisodeCollage.png|''(For full size Click here)'' GhostbustersandSpectralMassinRoboBusterepisodeCollage03.png|''(For full size Click here)'' GrossjuckPlazainRoboBusterepisodeCollage02.png|''(For full size Click here)'' RGB DVD Boxset Features TheRealGhostbustersBoxsetVol4disc1menusc06.png|Episode menu for Volume 4 Disc 1 TheRealGhostbustersBoxsetVol4disc1episode096.png|Episode features TheRealGhostbustersBoxsetVol4disc1episode096Intsc01.png|Introduction Category:RGB Episode